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Editorial

Voters sent a message

Defeat of school levy shows depth of distrust of Columbus City Schools

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Sunday November 10, 2013 6:47 AM

Tuesday’s decisive defeat of Issues 50 and 51 was a clear message from voters: The Columbus
Board of Education has no credibility with the public. This was reinforced by the fact that voters
also tossed out two of three incumbent board members running for re-election.

The vote also was a referendum on former Superintendent Gene Harris and her administration, in
which an extensive data-scrubbing scandal hatched and grew into the catastrophe that has destroyed
public faith in the school district. Because the board delegated excessive authority to Harris,
deceit and incompetence flourished. Board members’ misplaced trust in Harris has taken a severe
toll on voters’ trust in the board. Worse is the setback it has dealt to the prospects for 50,000
students.

An inaccurate revenue projection by Treasurer Penny Rucker — a predicted $19.2 million deficit
for next year turned out actually to be a $51.1 million surplus — didn’t increase anyone’s
inclination to give the district more money. Nor did the fact that board member Hanifah Kambon
failed to resign after a state ethics panel found that she had an improper interest in a district
contract granted to her husband. So voters showed her the door.

Voters simply were not willing grant an outfit this incompetent and untrustworthy another $76.6
million per year in property taxes, regardless of what the funding could have accomplished.

Mayor Michael B. Coleman and the diverse and experienced Columbus Education Commission that he
convened created a far-reaching plan to rebuild the district. But the failures of the school board
and Harris dug a hole so deep that the mayor and his many community allies were unable to pull the
district out of it.

The result is unfortunate for the 50,000 student who require a quality education to have an
opportunity for success in life. They are paying the price for the failure of the adult leadership
of the school system. With the levy’s defeat, many will remain trapped in schools earning a D or F
in state rankings.

Hope for students depends on the reform effort pressing on with needed changes using the
resources at hand. Coleman has vowed to stick with the job, and that’s excellent news. But much
will hinge on the school board mending its ways and winning back the trust of the public.

This can be accomplished only through competent management of the district and honesty with the
public.

Fortunately, competent management already is in place in interim Superintendent Dan Good. He has
begun cleaning house by overhauling operations, removing employees who were tied to the data
scandal, eliminating unnecessary positions and moving some staff out of the central office and back
to the district’s front lines. There’s more such work to be done, however, and the board should
give Good the backing and latitude to do it.

To regain trust, the board should reject its past lack of transparency. Newly elected members
Michael D. Cole and Dominic Paretti have pledged to stand for transparency and openness. Hopefully,
the remainder of the board shares their view. The residents of the district deserve no less.

Voters have made abundantly clear that they will support more money for Columbus City Schools
only when they are convinced the board has changed its ways and that management of the district is
competent and efficient. The sooner the district meets that expectation, the sooner the students of
the district will benefit.